For Release: October 12, 2017

You’re Surrounded! AES New York 2017’s “Immersive Audio Super Saturday” Events to Feature Binaural and Large-Scale Multichannel Audio Demos and Workshops

—   Spatial audio workshops on broadcast, recording and gaming to be highlights of Immersive Audio Super Saturday events —

The AES New York has announced a full-day program dedicated to Spatial Audio and its production and applications. “Immersive Audio Super Saturday” will showcase the latest in spatial and 3D audio in a series of presentations and workshops on Saturday, October 21 at the AES New York Convention at the Jacob Javits Center. The Immersive Audio Super Saturday sessions will utilize a large-scale 9.1-channel system from PMC and, for binaural sessions, a Sennheiser wireless headphone system. From Xenakis to Doctor Who, and spanning VR, broadcast and music production, the sessions draw from the Convention’s Game Audio & VR, Broadcast & Streaming and Recording & Production tracks.

“Immersive audio has become the state of the art for film sound, as well as for gaming, home entertainment and personal listening. During Immersive Audio Super Saturday, attendees will have an opportunity to experience the sonic and emotional impact of immersive audio at its very best,” said Bob Moses, AES Executive Director. “This is a unique event that will bring an exciting crescendo to the technical program at AES New York.” While the Super Saturday sessions require All Access registration, those who can’t take advantage of the entire four-day Convention technical program can register for a one- or two-day pass and chose to include Immersive Audio Super Saturday.

A spectacular large-scale demo room featuring a full 9.1 channel PMC loudspeakers system will host the “Radical Interpretations of Iconic Musical Works” session, in which contemporary works from Morton Feldman and Iannis Xenakis will be played in 9.1 immersive audio. The Xenakis piece was recorded twice, from the perspective of a listener, and with overhead mics to capture the sound as experienced by the performers, and will be played back in both formats to demonstrate the ways in which immersive audio can capture and convey a variety of listener perspectives.

The iconic TV series Doctor Who has been around for more than 50 years – but now its audio is as futuristic as the Doctor’s TARDIS time machine. At the “What’s This? Doctor Who with Spatial Audio!” demo, BBC lead engineer Chris Pike will utilize a binaural playback system to demonstrate the way post-production transforms a normally-recorded episode into a spatial audio spectacular. Follow us into the next sonic realm with our favorite Time Lord!

In the “Binaural Listening Experience” session, Marta Olko of New York University will present a selection of binaural recordings and mixes from various artists, composers, and recording and mixing engineers, all created to highlight the ways in which binaural audio can complement and enhance the music.

Immersive audio is also a vital component of virtual reality gaming. In “Create Sound and Music for VR and 360 Using Common DAW Workflows,” Tom Ammermann of New Audio Technology GmbH will focus on the latest initiatives and developments of virtual and augmented reality development centers worldwide, including the first publicly-funded VR/AR lab in the US, located in New York.

“Creating Audio for Virtual Reality Applications” will be hosted by Bob Schulein of ImmersAV Technology, who will look at how the quest for more engaging listener experiences has raised the challenges to create more compelling audio. Elements of binaural hearing and sound capture have come to play a central role in existing and evolving production techniques, and this seminar will present and demonstrate techniques for enhancing audio for games, music, radio and music education.

Immersive Audio Super Saturday Schedule, October 21

9.1 sessions, Room 1E06

9:00 – 10:30AM, RP17 “Radical Interpretations of Iconic Musical Works” by Morton Lindberg

10:45 am–11:45 am, SA13 “3D Ambeo and Live Recordings” by Jim Anderson & Ulrike Schwartz

1:15 pm–2:45 pm, SA15 “Afternoon Listening Session in 9.1” by David Bowles and Paul Geluso

3:00 pm–4:00 pm, SA14 “Capturing Height” by David Bowles, Paul Geluso and Sungyoung Kim

Binaural sessions, Room 1E13

9:00 am — 10:00 am, SA11 “Creating Audio for Virtual Reality Applications” by Bob Schulein

10:15 am — 12:15 pm, SA12, Binaural Listening Experience” by Marta Olko

1:30 pm — 2:30 pm, GA15, “Create Sound and Music for VR and 360 Using Common DAW Workflows” by Tom Ammermann.

3:00 pm — 5:00 pm, B13, “What's This? Doctor Who with Spatial Audio!” by Chris Pike

Register before Monday, October 16 for Advance Registration online pricing, and make plans to join us at AES New York 2017. The convention will be co-located with the independent and adjacent NAB Show New York 2017. Registration, at any level, for AES New York 2017 will give attendees access to the NAB Show New York exhibition floor and the content in the NAB Show New York’s Core Package (a $75 value). Register now, upgrade to All Access registration, either four-, two- or one-day, for the Maximum Audio experience, including Immersive Audio Super Saturday, at aesshow.com.